That honor goes to the underground “trials.”ĭanganronpa‘s unique visuals continue into its trials, where incorrect statements must be literally shot down with evidence. But you can easily forget these imperfections because investigations are relatively short and not where the primary gameplay lies.
Instead, it’s required to go through all reactions, making conversations with multiple choices repetitive as you speak to the same person again to select a different option. You can “react” to respond to a specific word or phrase in a longer string of dialogue, but selecting something doesn’t affect the way the story plays out or what the students think of Makoto. Streamlined dialogue is also sacrificed for a sense of interactive conversations. A scan feature that points out what can be interacted with is helpful, but it also succumbs to not showing the item’s actual hitbox, making it get all the more hectic in crowded areas as the flat objects overlap in the 3D space. While relatively minor, there are still enough instances of slightly unclear hitbox detection to be a smidge irritating. Heavily stylized 2D objects and characters on top of a 3D background provide a striking visual flair in exchange for some hitbox hijinks. Investigations have the player, as Makoto Naegi, gather testimonies from fellow students and search for clues across the school in the vein of point-and-click adventures.
As students succumb to the call of freedom, dead bodies are found, thus beginning an investigation to catch the perpetrator, lest they go free and leave the rest of the students to be executed in their stead. They’re given two choices: either they remain inside the school for the rest of their lives, or a single student can leave if they successfully commit murder and get away with it.
Inevitably, some sacrifices are taken a bit too far, but the majority are worthwhile exchanges, resulting in a very solid foundation for a series that has since fittingly flourished.ĭanganronpa follows a group of high school students who have been locked inside Hope’s Peak Academy for an indefinite period of time. This is a concept Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc Anniversary Edition implements to ample success. But anything and everything new comes at the cost of something else. No one ever wants to give up the security that comes with what they already have. The word “ sacrifice” has negative connotations, and understandably so.